| The Misremembered Vietnam War | |
|---|---|
| Sep 27, 2007 03:40 |   |
 | No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now. --Richard M. Nixon, 1985 Vietnam War was the longest military conflicts in US history. The war claimed the lives of more than 58,000 Americans.The financial cost to the United States is over $150 billion dollars. The first combat troops arrived in 1965 , and the cease-fire of January 1973. Millions of Vietnamese were killed during the war. During the war period, America was quite divided.To the new generation of young Americans today, how do you view the Vietnam War? Does it sound like a story from the olden times? By the way, what is the real meaning of President Nixon's words? Why is is a misunderstood and misremembered war? Can anyone help to explain? I am interested in knowing about the Vietname War. Can any one tell me more stories? I would be gtrateful. Your personal experience is prefered. Do you have the legendary experience as Forrest Gump experienced? That is the only movie about the Vietnam War I have watched . |
| Sep 27, 2007 05:58 | #1 |
| Johnny, I recommend the book 'Chickenhawk' by Robert Mason to gain a physical perspective of the Vietnam War from a US combattant perspective: |
| Sep 27, 2007 20:07 | #2 |
| "The Vietnam War was the longest and most unpopular war in which Americans ever fought. And there is no reckoning the cost. The toll in suffering, sorrow, in rancorous national turmoil can never be tabulated. No one wants ever to see America so divided again. And for many of the more than two million American veterans of the war, the wounds of Vietnam will never heal." US troops during the war in Vietnam in 1966.  |
| Oct 6, 2007 13:16 | #3 |
| History and language. Johnny said, 'The war claimed the lives of more than 58,000 Americans.The financial cost to the United States is over $150 billion dollars. The first combat troops arrived in 1965 , and the cease-fire of January 1973. Millions of Vietnamese were killed during the war.' This is an American history of the war. For the Vietnamese it went on much longer, they had to live with the devastation, memories of the horrors they had expereinced and loss of families. The cost to the US in money terms was high, but the Vietnamese economy was destroyed. Interestingly, 'only' 58,000 Americans were killed, but 'millions of Vietnamese were killed'. Oh the use of the passive voice ... it is so easy to leave out what would otherwise be the subject of the sentence. The point is that Americans (with some allies) killed the millions of Vietnamese. No lies anywhere there Johnny, but we might call it misreporting! I haven't seen a Vietnamese record of the history, but I bet it is a little different. |
| Oct 14, 2007 00:36 | #4 |
| Yes, Apault, the Vietnam War is misreported or "one-sided". Most of the reports about the war are from the western perspective( more precisely, from the American perspective). Anyway, US doesn't benefit from this war. As Johnny said, during the war period, US was quite divided. Henry Kissenger did contribute a lot to the end of the War. He is a brilliant diplomat and should deserve much credit for his efforts to end the war. |
| Oct 17, 2007 03:30 | #5 |
| Vietnam War is civil war between South Vietnam regime and North Vietnam! America also paid a high price in that war. Vietnam War is the bigest failure after the Korean War. |
| Oct 17, 2007 06:06 | #6 |
| I have refrained from making a comment on this post…until now. The South Vietnam Government asked for assistance from the West as they had been invaded from the North. Much the same as Korea had been. You may remember that Malaysia also had this problem in the late sixties and also Borneo. South Vietnam was finally defeated by the Left form the US who after the conflict returned to their cosy lives without any cost to them.( Who was that actress)? Millions of Vietnamese were confined to camps for years to teach them how to be better “people” Dodger. |
| Oct 22, 2007 18:48 | #7 |
| GUEST22549 | Read The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam. Short version, would have never had U.S. involvement if we would have told the French to shut the eff up and sit on their pansy a$$e$ in their own country and drink wine and eat cheese and not try to re-take a former colony after WWII. This was a colonial war plain and simple that then became a war against 'communism'. Classic example of your government giving you misleading info. Here we are repeating our mistakes in Iraq. All because an idiot wanted to get the bad guy that his Daddy didn't 'take out' during his term.. Can anyone say tar baby? |
| Oct 24, 2007 05:03 | #8 |
| Quote: "Short version, would have never had U.S. involvement if we would have told the French to shut the eff up and sit on their pansy a$$e$ in their own country and drink wine and eat cheese and not try to re-take a former colony after WWII." Do you mean that US regret its mistakes he had commited? Please do not blame France. It is the greed of US politicians that plunged US into the abyss of the Vietnam War. |
| Oct 24, 2007 06:05 | #9 |
| As I remember it, it was the South Vietnam goverement that asked the US for help after the North invaded them. Million fled the country to run from the invaders. If it was so good for therm why did they run? Dodger. |
| Nov 26, 2007 03:34 | #10 |
| "As I remember it, it was the South Vietnam goverement that asked the US for help after the North invaded them." Anyway, what are the motives for America to involve in the war? America must have some hidden interests. |
Page 1 of 3 < Previous Next > Page:
Post a Reply to: The Misremembered Vietnam War
Copyright © 1998-2025 All rights reserved.